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PEOPLE COME TO QUEENSTOWN TO ENCOUNTER CHALLENGE, DARE FATE, ACCEPT
RISK, AND TEST LIMITS
IN AN IMPROBABLY BEAUTIFUL ENVIRONMENT THAT IS CHALLENGING, DARING,
RISKY, AND LIMITLESS.
PHOTO CREDITS: home at first (wakatipu/steamboat/milford sound/steam
train; NZ tourism (GOLF/JET BOAT/BUNGY);
miles
holden (HORSE TREK); chris mclennan
(ALPINE PHOTOGrapher) .
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Vibrant, trendy,
wonderfully walkable large town in a fabulous
setting wedged between a stunning, turquoise lake and rugged,
photogenic mountains. Queenstown is New Zealand's outdoor
adventure capital:
home of extreme and not-so-extreme sport.
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Attractions in/from Queenstown:
More than any other population center on the South Island, Queenstown
exists for tourism. Expect lots of visitors, and expect an
ever-expanding infrastructure with new things to see and do. The original home
of bungy jumping has spawned an extreme sport industry second to none. But while Queenstown
tantalizes the most serious adrenaline junkie, it offers much
more than
extreme adventure. Here's a
partial listing of local activities:
EXPLORING QUEENSTOWN ON FOOT:
Downtown
Queenstown is big enough to provide hundreds
of shops,
restaurants, and other services, and |
Queenstown: tucked
between mountains
and clean, turquoise Lake Wakatipu. |
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small enough to be walked easily.
Its lakeside
park has a beach and a commercial pier. |
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Visitors to Queenstown
not planning to travel
onwards to the Fiordland Region can take day
trips to Milford Sound: using their own rental
car, going with a tour group by bus from
Queenstown, or by flight-seeing aircraft from
Queenstown. At Milford Sound frequent
boat departures let visitors experience
this unique environment close up. |
OUTDOOR ADVENTURES AND EXTREME SPORTS:
Operators of all manner of regional activities
have storefront booking
offices in downtown
Queenstown. Sign up for your adventure and
join the
group for the bus/van ride to the
activity location. Organized
commercial
activities include:
BUNGY JUMPING & AERIAL SWINGING: more than a
half-dozen heart-stopping leaps to choose from.
DAY HIKES: The Routeburn
Track, others.
FLIGHTS & BUS TOURS TO MILFORD SOUND
HORSE TREKKING
JET BOATING: Shotover Jet,
Dart River Jet.
MOUNTAIN BIKING
MULTIPLE DAY WALKING (TREKKING): Milford Track,
Routeburn Track,
Hollyford
Track & others.
PARASAILING:
Suspended from a parachute tethered
to a boat on Lake Wakatipu. From Queenstown
pier. |
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RESTAURANTS, BARS, & NIGHT LIFE:
Downtown
Queenstown offers restaurants and night life
for every age,
taste, and budget.
RIDE THE SKYLINE GONDOLA:
Take the enclosed
cable car that rises steeply from Queenstown
to the
Skyline complex (restaurant, scenic
viewpoints, walking paths, luge
runs) on Bob's
Peak 1/4 mile above town.
SAILING LAKE WAKATIPU:
Depart Queenstown's
pier on the historic steamship SS Earnslaw for
a
nostalgic cruise on Lake Wakatipu.
SHOPPING:
especially for local crafts and
fashions
in boutiques throughout Queenstown. |
Queenstown offers a full
range of restaurants
and cuisines: from gourmet to goulash.
NZ
Tourism photo. |
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Attractions in the Queenstown Region:
More activities are found nearby, including:
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Pritchard's General
Store has been a
fixture in Arrowtown since 1862,
supplying gold-panning equipment to avid
and casual prospectors alike. Today the old
Pritchard's building houses the Arrowtown
Pharmacy behind its elegant false front. |
ARROWTOWN & OTHER EX-MINING TOWNS:
The
pursuit of gold and other minerals brought the
first European
settlers to the region. Some of
their original sites are ghost towns
today. One,
Arrowtown, a 30-minute drive from Queenstown,
has become a
fashionable community with a
living pioneering style.
GLEN ORCHY AND BEYOND PARADISE:
The jaw-
dropping drive along the Lake Wakatipu shore
road west and north
of Queenstown leads to
Glen Orchy, where the Dart and Rees Rivers
form
the lake. Dart River jet boats and Glen
Orchy horse treks depart from
here to explore
the incredible scenery which served as locations
for the
Lord of the Rings films. Driving further
north leads into the
aptly named Paradise, a |
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pristine valley surrounded by ranges of
snowcapped mountains.
GOLF:
Four courses (Queenstown
Kelvin
Heights and
Jack's Point
in greater
Queenstown, and Arrowtown Golf Club
and
Millbrook Resort
in Arrowtown) welcome
visitors with friendly memberships and
challenging
golf.
RIDE THE STEAM TRAIN:
The Kingston Flyer
narrow gauge steam train operates twice
daily
service out of Kingston at the south |
Paradise beyond Glen
Orchy. |
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Swing bridges and
manicured trails make day
hiking the Routeburn Track enjoyable
for reasonably fit walkers of all
ages and levels of experience. |
end of Lake Wakatipu (October
through April).
SKIING:
Snow is expected on the four regional
slopes during winter months (July-September).
WALKING THE ROUTEBURN TRACK:
Although the
complete trek requires three days and two
nights, it is
possible to walk the eastern portion
of this famous hiking trail as a
day-hike across
swing bridges and through the temperate rain
forest to Routeburn
Flats and back (4-5 hours).
WINE TASTING:
Some of the world's southernmost
vineyards produce delightful wines
within thirty
minutes of Queenstown.
Gibbston Valley Wines
on
Rt. 6 east of Queenstown offers wine tours,
wine tastings, purchase
of fine wines, and
delightful luncheons. |
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Lodgings:
Top quality inns and resort lodgings in and near Queenstown ideally located for exploring
the region. Home At First's highly-rated
Queenstown Inn is located in a quiet residential
neighborhood only five minutes walk from the heart of downtown Queenstown. The inn
features a superb view overlooking the town and Lake Wakatipu, as well as excellent
service, complete with a multiple choice breakfast and an evening happy hour in the
lounge. |
The dining-lounge with
balcony
at a Queenstown Inn family suite.
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Queenstown
Airportsurrounded by mountains
three-quarter-mile higher than its runway
provides passengers white-knuckle take-
offs and landings in bad weather, and,
during periods of fine weather, fantastic
views of the region's mountains and lakes. |
Getting to/from Queenstown:
Home At First guests most often arrive in Queenstown by rental
car, normally coming south from
Westland, a very scenic drive of 6-8 hours. From
Queenstown by car, guests drive south and west to Te Anau in
Fiordland in 3-4 hours, or northeast to
Mt. Cook/Lake Tekapo in 3-4 scenic hours or all the way to
Christchurch, in 5-7 hours.
Some guests may fly to/from Queenstown Airport15-minutes drive from the
center of townwhich offers frequent domestic flight connections to
points throughout New Zealand, especially Christchurch, Wellington, and
Auckland, as well as some international service to Australia. |
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Getting around inside Queenstown: Use of
a rental car is essential here,
except for those staying in or near downtown Queenstown who can easily walk everywhere in
the town center. Queenstown traffic and parking can be quite congested.
Queenstown, Lake
Wakatipu, and
the Remarkables viewed from
an ascending Skyline Gondola.
Photo
NZ Tourism. |
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The Shotover Jet boat
races the rapids of
the Shotover River through the Shotover
Canyon north of Queenstown. Passengers
report feeling "shot over" at the conclusion
of their extreme boating adventure.
Photo
NZ Tourism.
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Getting around outside
of Queenstown: Use of a
rental car is essential to explore the greater Queenstown region independently. Once outside of
Queenstown roads are usually lightly traveled. Please note than many tour operators begin
and end their tours from downtown Queenstown even for destinations far from the
town,
including many of the famed adventure trips: the great walks, jet boating, bungy jumping,
and other extreme adventures, even trips beyond the region to Milford Sound.
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HOME AT FIRST IS
A DESIGNATED "KIWI SPECIALIST"
TOUR OPERATOR BY THE NEW ZEALAND TOURISM
BOARD.
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